The light was bright enough to penetrate through the shutters, and sufficient to suggest it was late in the morning. Egan's hand rested on his forehead. He was tired. All night tossing and turning in bed, the little sleep he had was restless and agitated. The night before, just as he had returned home, Egan had heard Michel's voice. His friend arrived late, and was in the company of a girl, as usual. They had locked themselves in Michel's room.
That morning, Egan had heard Francesco talking on the phone, right after he had gotten up to go to university. He was the only one of the three who was still studying.
Michel had knocked on Egan's door and shouted that there was still hot coffee in the kitchen. He heard the laughter of a girl, and then the two of them had left as well.
In the sleepless hours, Egan had relived everything that had happened in the cave. He couldn't say he had dreamed, he remembered perfectly when he had returned home. He remembered exactly parking in a lay-by far from home, because he couldn't wait to go to bed due to tiredness, and remembered putting the thermal bag in the trunk. He also remembered stumbling twice, on shaky legs, and he had expected to see the demon appear, to collect his debt, at any moment. Egan had waited, with his eyes open, and when they started to burn, he closed them and fell into a troubled doze. If only he had left that ferret, or whatever it was, to its fate, he would now be up, taking a shower and getting ready for the usual boring day. But he didn't even have the energy to get out of bed. Egan rubbed a hand on his chest. He was wearing the clothes from the day before, and hadn't even undressed. He still vividly remembered the moment when the demon had turned him into a woman. A sudden and indecipherable sensation, which he hadn't had time to process. "And luckily it didn't last long..." he said, massaging his temples, then decided to get up anyway – it was useless to stay in bed waiting for the worst, racking his brains without finding a way out.
The shower water ran over his skin, giving a slight relief to his tense muscles. When he came out, wearing a bathrobe, he looked at the mirror, slightly fogged from the steam, which reflected a blurred image. The man had the impression that yesterday had not yet ended. That he was stuck in it. He opened the bathroom window with two fingers and grabbed the handle. As soon as he was in the hallway, he had a second impression, of being watched. He turned and saw no one. He was alone in the house, everyone had left. As soon as Egan entered the kitchen, he looked up at the large wall clock: 10:30 AM. "What day is it today..." he shifted his eyes to the calendar while taking the still warm coffee from the coffee maker. "Luckily I have the afternoon shift," he said shortly after, speaking out loud.
Noxfor appeared sitting in front of him, like a cloud gathering, his mighty form becoming increasingly clear, as well as his mocking smile. "Welcome, my young human."
Egan trembled; he had to put down the coffee maker to avoid spilling the coffee.
"How come you are still scared? I arrived so politely and without what you would call special effects. Come on..."
Noxfor was mocking him or simply enjoying seeing him subjugated by his presence.
Egan felt his heart rate increase. Waiting for him to speak and ask, he was dying of anxiety. Nothing good crossed his mind.
"You'll have breakfast later, now let's go out," Noxfor snapped his fingers and Egan found himself dressed. "Your face is like that of a siltum about to pass away."
"A what?"
"Never mind. And don't wonder how I knew where you live. Last night I left… let's say, a magical mark on you, but it won't last long," Noxfor waved a hand, then a blue light enveloped Egan. The young man found himself full of energy and the bags under his eyes disappeared. "That's better."
As if he had slept twelve hours and refreshed himself at the best restaurant in the city, the young human found himself full of energy all at once, unable to comprehend it.
"Are you still surprised after everything you've already seen?" Noxfor was almost irritated. "You are one of the most obtuse humans I have ever met."
Egan would have liked to ask how many he had met before him, and if he had also forced those others to participate in his 'games.' "Sorry if I can't get used to the presence of a demon who has just intruded into my life!"
"Well, you asked for it with your own hands," Noxfor clasped his palms, squeezing his fingers, and closed his eyes. A dark vortex opened behind Egan's shoulders. The man turned and widened his eyes in terror, a second later he felt pushed by the demon, and with a scream, he saw himself sucked into that blind darkness.
Egan didn't feel like he was falling, he didn't have the sensation of drowning or even losing contact with the environment. He found himself in a land with some pink trees, which he had never seen before, a leaden sky that seemed stormy, yet the air was clear, free of any trace of smog.
"My world," said Noxfor, spreading his arms. "What do you think? No hellish holes or hostile and rugged places. This is just the outside. A small part of it."
The human observed, it was a place that frightened much less than that cave he had been in the day before. Except for the color of the trees, or the sky-blue grass and... An indigo-colored insect, with a long green and harmonious tail that passed under his nose; it wasn't much bigger than a bumblebee. "What is that?" he pointed at it in a very childish way, so much so that Noxfor laughed.
"One of the inhabitants. And let's see if now you are finally convinced of who I am."
"The demon who reigns here?"
"Exactly."
"How come the creatures here can cross over to Earth and not vice versa?" and he was thinking specifically of the ferret.
Noxfor smiled. "Finally, an intelligent question. But, it's not something that concerns you."
"Thanks a lot..." said Egan sarcastically, then he shifted his eyes from the demon and took a better look around him. The pink trees had fruits protruding from the branches – he made to approach but suddenly everything vanished. "Wait!" he reappeared in the kitchen of his rented apartment.
"You had a taste of my world and, who knows, if you return, maybe it will be to stay until death. But not as an inhabitant, rather as my toy."
Egan clenched his fists and didn't speak. The demon sensed that he remembered the debt well. "It's time to repay me."
"What do you want me to do?"
"First of all, let's get out of this hole you call home," and he clapped his hands, once. They found themselves by a river; the one that cut the city's borders like a tangent and continued crossing into the southernmost region. Outdoors, the demon preferred nature. Egan was surprised but tried not to be noticed. He didn't know how the demon could react, again, if he got annoyed. Egan remained still, observing the waters from the riverbank. Even though it was already the end of April, the waters maintained a hostile temperature.
"My first order for you: enter the river and catch a fish," Noxfor waved his hand. "Any."
Egan sighed; he had the feeling he would have to dive in. But, if the demon's orders were of that kind, he could also slow down the anxiety that was eating his stomach. He bent down, to untie his shoelaces.
"What are you doing?"
Egan pointed at the shoes. "I'm taking them off so they don't get wet-" he didn't finish speaking, the demon blew and a gust of wind dragged the young man into the water, almost to the center of the river.
"You must learn to execute orders immediately, without wasting time," the demon spoke when he saw Egan reappear on the surface, gasping. "Bring me my fish."
The human took a breath and dived; the cold water had become tolerable by now. The demon commands... he commands. Get used to it. He reflected, and the anger made him scream underwater. There were no fish, that was a river that collected sewage discharge, although at that precise point it wasn't yet completely polluted, as it had yet to reach the urban center. There were no fish in that river, at least none that he could catch. I'll drown... he won't let me out without what he wants... The muddy bottom zeroed visibility every time a hand or a foot sank into it. He returned to the surface and caught his breath. The demon watched him from the shore, arms crossed and a smug air that showed no sign of pity. Egan dived again, he thought of one of the few things he could do, use the clothes he was wearing. He began to swim against the current and pulled the neck of his shirt down, making it a kind of net. He swam with one arm, swam and pushed with his legs until he felt something hit his chest. For all he knew, it could have been debris or abandoned waste. But he couldn't take it anymore, his leg muscles were burning. He had to resurface and get out of that greenish water. Hope ignited when Egan felt movement; something was hitting his chest. He took a breath, with one hand he held the shirt so that whatever was caught in it wouldn't escape; he set foot on the shore, where he collapsed on his knees. He couldn't believe it, pulling the shirt out of his pants, a small carp fell to the ground, flapping.
"You were lucky, first order completed," Noxfor grabbed the fish's tail and roasted it in a second, then threw it back into the water. "I hate the taste of carp."
"Why did you do that?! You could have freed it!" sitting on the ground, Egan looked at him with fearful disappointment.
"I'm a demon, don't forget... it will serve as lunch for other creatures," with a wave of his hand, Egan's clothes returned dry and clean as if they had just come out of the dry cleaner. "Get up, your first day as a servant isn't even halfway through."
The doubt that the demon never cared about the fish at all became consistent. The young human believed he had found himself accommodating the first thing that crossed the demon's mind. "I apologize, Noxfor..." he walked behind him, a step away. "I should go to work in the early afternoon."
"What work?" the demon advanced at a not too fast pace.
"At the bar, I work as an accountant."
"Which bar?"
"It's in the center, it's quite large, it has more than one room..." he stopped when he saw a couple of men walking towards them; they were coming from the opposite direction. "Do people see you as I see you?" meaning, dressed in that rough and completely out-of-season manner.
"Only who I want, and when I want."
"So, do the two who are about to reach us see you or not?"
"No other human sees me. Consider yourself alone, for the moment."
Egan then stopped talking, the two could take him for a crazy person, seeing him jabbering to himself. Without a phone or earpiece.
"Regarding your bar, it's no longer necessary for you to go to work."
"What?" a moment later he felt like he was staggering. When he lifted his eyes from the floor, which he immediately recognized, he found himself in his workplace.
"I reset everyone's memory, as if you had never been there," the demon smiled.
"What?!" Egan spotted one of the three bartenders, Adele. He had known her since he started working there. She passed by him, looked at him with her usual courteous welcoming smile, and moved on. She was a woman in her forties and had always been kind to him.
"No one remembers you, I erased every trace of your presence," the demon grabbed Egan's wrist. "Remember that you are my servant, and I will be your only employer from now on."
"And how will I support myself?" Egan ran his hands through his hair, sitting at one of the tables.
"You won't need anything. And that's all you need to know," the demon, invisible to others, sat next to him. "Second order for you: do you see that girl reading, in front of us?"
Egan looked up and focused on a young brunette woman, with her eyes on a magazine and an almost finished cappuccino in a cup, on the table. "I see her."
"Go and slip your hand under her skirt and touch her black panties."
The human turned to stare at the demon with a puzzled face. He didn't wonder how he knew the color of the girl's underwear but hoped he had heard wrong. "What do I have to do?" he asked with fear, remembering the demon's impetuous gesture at the river.
"Slip your hand under her skirt."
"Why?!"
Noxfor shifted those furious yellow eyes on him. Egan stood up, one step, two... At the third, he stopped, he couldn't do it. He wasn't a perv. He felt the demon's gaze piercing his back. "I can't..." he whispered. An instant later, his pants unfastened and fell to his ankles, leaving him only in his briefs. Egan turned red. Everyone, including the girl who was reading, stared at him and mocked him. He bent down, quickly pulling up his pants, and ran out of the bar. The zipper couldn't go down on its own, just as the snap button couldn't suddenly pop as if he had gained 20 pounds in three seconds. He heard Noxfor's familiar laughter approaching.
"You paid your penalty, for a missed order."
The young man gave him a fiery look of anger.
"And I was lenient, this time," added the demon. He slapped Egan's back, "You see, the games I like most are of a certain kind..." he raised a hand and the skirt of a woman, who was crossing the street at the intersection near the bar, lifted into the air. The woman screamed, immediately covering herself. There wasn't a breath of wind.
"You're a perverted demon!" Egan wasn't afraid to say it out loud, he could perfectly understand the woman who had run away down the street in shame. Noxfor laughed again.